SCAD Students Named Finalists for Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award

Filmmaking team one of only 10 in the nation to advance to competition finals
SAVANNAH, Ga.—Savannah College of Art and Design undergraduate students Colin Levy and Roque Smith-Nonini have been named finalists for the 2008 Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award competition. Their team is one of only 10 in the nation to reach the final round of competition.

The annual Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award competition is by invitation only, and SCAD was one of just 13 colleges in the United States asked to participate, marking the college’s second consecutive invitation.

Coca-Cola’s challenge to the participating film schools was for select student filmmakers to use their popular Diet Coke product in a starring role in a 50-second film. Ten finalists were named from among the 13 participating schools’ submissions in November, and each finalist received a $7,500 production grant from Coca-Cola and donated film from Kodak to complete their work.

The completed film was due in mid-January and had to feature all original footage and music. Levy and Smith-Nonini, both sophomores in the film and television program, shot their film in Savannah at the Lucas Theatre using a cast and crew primarily comprised of SCAD students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Each of the 10 films will be posted to the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award Web site at http://www.ccrfa.com/ccrfa/ by Jan. 25, where online visitors can vote for their favorite film. All online votes, as well as those from the Coca-Cola panel of judges, will be finalized by Feb. 6.

The winning film will be announced Feb. 12, and the filmmakers will receive a $10,000 prize, a trip to Atlanta to record promotional features with Coca-Cola and a trip to the ShoWest Industry tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nev., to receive the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award trophy.

The winning film also will be distributed to participating motion-picture theater owners across the U.S. for Coca-Cola’s pre-feature programming, which means the winning film could screen in more than 20,000 theaters across the country.

“We are honored that Coca-Cola has given us a wonderful opportunity to showcase our work,” said Peter Weishar, dean of the SCAD School of Film and Digital Media. “Our students, staff and faculty pulled together and worked on their own time to produce a great short film. Our participation in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award program has already been a very positive experience.”